Shakespeare’s Theater of Judgment

Kevin Curran is Professor of Early Modern Literature at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland and general editor of Edinburgh Critical Studies in Shakespeare and Philosophy. His books include Shakespeare’s Theater of Judgment (2024), Shakespeare’s Legal Ecologies (2017), Renaissance Personhood (2020) and Shakespeare and Judgment (2017).

• AcknowledgmentsA Note on SpellingIntroduction: Understanding Judgment1. Feeling2. Objects3. Vision4. Making5. Facing6. CommunityCoda: Reimagining JudgmentNotesBibliography

Among the innovations of the Elizabethan theaters – the first such purpose-built structures in England since the time of the ancient Roman occupation – was the introduction of the box office. Performers would no longer pass the hat at the end of a performance in the hope of a generous reward. Theatergoers would now pay in advance for their entertainment, whether they judged it to their liking or not. Then, as now, at a play’s end they demonstrated their judgment in the form of applause or noises of disapproval. In this innovative study, Kevin Curran has identified and explored a concept that shaped the experience of playwrights and audiences alike. He shows the extent to which judgment – critical, punitive, just, forgiving, loving – was central to Shakespeare’s imagination and his practice.